27: What About Rachel?

I didn't go to the gates to watch Alastor leave. I hadn't watched him head off on one of his hunts in seven years, so suddenly showing up to see him off would have been suspicious. Instead, I stayed inside and listened for the horns to blow, signalling that Alastor and his men were heading towards the border. Once he crossed out of Drexel Forest territory, most of the warriors escorting him would turn around and return, leaving only the men he had chosen for the hunt to continue through the woods towards the human town.

I waited until the sound of the horns faded into the distance before heading to Rachel's room. When I entered, she was sitting on the floor playing with her dolls, completely unaware that tonight would be the last night she ever saw this room.

"Mama!" she laughed, jumping to her feet and running towards me.

I caught her in my arms and held her a little tighter than usual while the nanny bowed and quietly left the room, giving me some time alone with my daughter.

"How's my girl today?" I asked, kissing her cheek.

"Good. Papa Alastor said he was planning something special for my birthday." Her brown eyes lit up. "You think he's getting me a new dollhouse?"

My heart squeezed at the thought that she wouldn't be here to find out.

"I don't know, sweetie, but Mama wants you to try to get some sleep for the rest of the day because tonight, we're going on a little adventure."

"Yayyyy!" She bounced excitedly in my arms. "Are we going to Fairytopia?"

I smiled despite everything. Fairytopia was one of the magical places from her storybooks, filled with fairies, talking animals and flowers that granted wishes. If only where we were going was that simple.

"No, baby. We're going somewhere for real," I told her. "It's going to be a long journey, and Mama doesn't want you falling asleep on the way, so I need you to get some rest now."

"But I don't want to."

"Of course you don't."

I carried her to the bed and lay beside her. She complained for another few minutes, insisting she wasn't tired even as she rubbed her eyes, so I began singing softly while rubbing her back. Before long, her little body relaxed against mine, and after one final yawn, she fell asleep.

I stopped singing but didn't get up immediately. Instead, I lay there for a while and simply looked at her, lightly tracing one finger over her golden curls as I stared at the little face I had spent almost seven years protecting. She had no idea what tonight meant. To Rachel, we were going on an adventure, but she didn't know she was about to leave the only home she'd ever known or that, if everything went according to plan, she would never see Papa Alastor or Uncle Trent again.

Maybe one day she would hate me for that, but I could live with her hatred as long as she was alive and free enough to give it to me.

I kissed her forehead and carefully tucked the covers around her before getting off the bed. When the nanny returned, I told her Rachel was not to be disturbed and that no one was allowed inside the room except me, then I left to find Trenton.

His scent wasn't difficult to catch. Sandalwood and cinnamon drifted through the hallway, and I followed it towards one of the sitting rooms, but as I got closer, another familiar scent mixed with his.

Magic and herbs.

Opal.

Then another scent reached me, one I remembered all too well from last night.

Death and pestilence.

I stopped walking.

Ashley was here.

My heart immediately began beating faster as I hurried towards the sitting room. The moment I stepped through the doorway, Trenton turned towards me.

"Luna," he greeted, using my title. "We have guests."

"Luna Ava, it's good to see you again." Opal curtsied.

"You too, Opal."

Trenton gestured towards the young woman sitting beside her. "This is Ashley Sharptooth, Alpha Roland's daughter."

I moved farther into the room and finally got a proper look at Ashley. Somehow, she looked even worse than she had last night. Her face was pale and her body looked weak, but it was the way she held herself, as though every movement hurt, that immediately told me something was wrong.

"She's badly injured," Trenton hissed before turning towards her. "Who did this to you?"

"No one who will live long," Ashley replied with a weak chuckle that quickly dissolved into a fit of coughing.

"Trenton, go get the healer. She needs to be treated."

He nodded and hurried from the room. The moment he disappeared, I turned towards Ashley and Opal.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." Ashley shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "It's over now."

"It's not nothing," Opal snapped, her eyes filling with anger. "He raped you again."

My stomach dropped. "Who?"

"Opal, don't," Ashley begged.

"How can I help you if I don't know who did this to you?"

"Tell her, Ash," Opal said more gently. "You can trust her."

Ashley stared at the floor for several seconds, her jaw tightening before she finally forced the name out. "RJ."

I froze. "Your brother?"

"Half-brother," she corrected, as though that somehow made it better.

My stomach turned.

"He said he was trying to make sure I loved men before the Vampire King showed up."

There were no words I could think of that would make what happened to her any less horrible. Sorry felt useless, but it was the only thing I had.

"I'm sorry this happened to you."

"Don't be." Ashley lifted her head, and beneath all that pain, I saw something else burning in her eyes. Anger. "Now I know I haven't been missing anything by not sleeping with a man." Her expression hardened. "What's the plan? When do we leave this hellhole?"

That was enough for me to understand that she didn't want my pity, and I wasn't going to force it on her.

"The men eat dinner at seven, and women aren't allowed to join them, so that's the window we'll have. I'll shift so I can travel in wolf form. We will get to Winnie's by 8 p.m. at the latest."

"But I can't shift."

"I know. You'll be travelling on my wolf's back."

Ashley stared at me as though she wasn't sure she'd heard me correctly.

"What about Rachel?" Opal asked.

"That's where you come in." I turned towards her. "You will leave by five. Rachel spends most of her time in her room with her nanny, so it shouldn't raise any alarms if no one sees her for a while. I'm trusting you to get my daughter to Winifred by seven-thirty. Run whenever you can, don't stop unless you absolutely have to, and stay away from the obvious routes. Ashley and I will be right behind you."

Opal nodded, and for the first time, the plan no longer felt like something that existed only inside my head. Everything was finally falling into place, and in a few hours, there would be no turning back.

Tonight, my daughter would leave Drexel Forest. Ashley would finally escape her father's control, and if Selene was still listening to me, tonight would be the last time I ever answered to the name Luna Drexel.